Nigeria's Fintech Unicorn

Nigeria's booming fintech industry has led some to believe that it could be crowned Africa's unofficial "capital for fintech investment and digital finance startups". In November alone, over $360 million had been invested in Nigerian payment ventures. Interestingly to note, over half of this came directly from Chinese investors. Even more interesting is the fact that this amount is equivalent to one-third of all startup venture capital raised for the continent of Africa in 2018!

The article then goes on to elaborate on several of Nigeria's top performing fintech companies. The unicorn known as "Interswitch" stood out to me the most; in finance, a unicorn is a startup company valued at over $1 billion. Interswitch first made its name when it "pioneered the infrastructure to digitize Nigeria's then predominantly paper-ledger and cash-based economy". Since its incorporation, the company now provides much of the tech-wiring for Nigeria's online banking system. With the services it provides, it is no wonder this fintech company soared through the ranks so quickly. With Nigerian talent continuing to make advancements in infrastructure and technology, their future is boundless.

Bibliography:

Bright, Jake. “Africa Roundup: Nigerian Fintech Gets $360M, Mints Unicorn, Draws Chinese VC.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 2 Dec. 2019, https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/01/africa-roundup-nigerian-fintech-gets-360m-mints-unicorn-draws-chinese-vc/.